The Losing Victor
by Prowriter13
Summary: The following story is not one of true love, nor is it one of hope for the future. This story is only for the brave and few. Don't read if your uncomfortable with the idea of loss love or craziness. Many deaths surround this one boy, well he's a man now. Venture forth only if your welcome to plot changes. Reviews will be welcome to those who can take it.
1. The Academy

**A/N: This is more of a second draft of the original story because the first had a few technical difficulties. I hope you like and before I begin I want to thank my awesome beta StormwalkerofLorian. Well, enjoy -Jazzy**

**Chapter 1: The Academy**

I woke up to Kay getting out of bed. I just stared, watching as he pulled on his fresh black pants and white button up. I laughed to myself. He looked so strange in his dress clothes. Kay flipped his brown hair that matched mine and began buttoning up his shirt. He wove a belt around his waist and as he was working on buckling it, his hand slipped and he hit the dresser next to him. Classic Kay, my seventeen year old, klutzy and annoying older brother.  
"What are you snickering about Koda? I can't wait to see you in your dress clothes. The last time you dressed up you looked like you were hit by a truck." I got out of bed and began to get ready for the reaping.  
I paused, half-dressed, when I heard a knock on the door. I knew who it was. I ran down the stairs while pulling my shirt over my head, snagging my ear on a button. I opened the door and before she could even turn around I barreled into her. She took a step back and I tackled her to the ground.  
"Hey, both of you get up. You're going to get grass stains." I stood up at my mother's comment, and helped her. Right when she had her footing, I pulled her into a bear hug. I felt her wrap her arms around me.  
"Happy Reaping Day!" She laughed in my ear. I let go of her and leaned down into her kiss. I stood there soaking in the taste of her lips. When she finally broke the kiss, I felt the emptiness I always did after those.  
"Happy Reaping Day Maya." I heard a snicker from behind me and turned around to see my brother giggling. "What?" He kept laughing.  
"What would you guys ever do if one of you got reaped?" I stared at him and I heard Aries, my sister, begin to laugh too.  
"He would probably cry, like he did last year at the academy." I felt my blood pressure rise but I let it cool down before I spoke in reply to Aries.  
"We both know that at least one of the graduates would volunteer, they almost always do." I looked over my shoulder to see a group of them walk by laughing about something.  
"Just watch that'll be me next year, I'll volunteer and win. I'll get the girl's, we'll live in the nicest house, and finally people will forget about what a disappointment Fade was." I felt anger at the emptiness of Kay's words. Fade was my brother, and he wasn't a disappointment. Not to me at least. Fade volunteered when he was eighteen, like a lot boys his age do, the only thing was that he lost. He died about half way through the games because he was abandoned by his allies. They left him with a fatal wound that got infected and killed him slowly. It got nerve wracking watching him die one day at a time until the girl from our district, District 2, found him and showed him mercy by slitting his throat.  
If a member of your family dies in the games, everyone considers him a disappointment. It means that they weren't strong enough. The district blames the parents and the siblings are considered weak as well. Kay gets messed with about that. I would too, except that I'm the top of my rank. I'm better then all of the kids my age, any time we battle they all know that they won't win, except Saul.  
Saul thinks he's better then everyone because his brother won the games. His brother is thirty now. He is still muscular, and you can tell he keeps it that way. I would hate to have to battle him.  
Saul is in my age and he has dirty blond hair. He's taller then me, but I'm stronger. Whenever we did the wrestling units I proved it more than once. He still claims that I caught him off guard, but to be honest he doesn't need to be wrestling if he can be caught off guard five times in a row. He used to always ask me to challenge him in archery practice because that was the one place he could up me.  
"Yeah, if you even get past training. Your the lowest in your ranking. Last year they considered putting you in with the fifteen year olds." I looked over at Maya, she always came up with the greatest come backs.  
"Wait, did you ever ask if your going back to the academy after Mr. Struss broke your leg?" Last year, my trainer broke my leg because I mouthed off to him. My mom took me out a month early. It's healed perfectly fine, it took five months but I handled it.  
"Yea, Mom said yes but if I get injured by a teacher again she's not going to let me go back." Maya smiled.  
"Good, because it would be almost impossible to be without you for nine months." I felt the same way. There were a few times when Maya's parents couldn't afford for her to go to the Academy and I spent a great deal of time bored.  
If you were lucky and your parents had money, you could hope to attend the academy when you turned seven. A lot of kids stay there until they turn eighteen, that's when they graduate, but a few miss a year here and there. The graduates are normally the ones to volunteer. They are stronger and more advanced and hate not having the spotlight, most of the time. There are a few smart ones who wouldn't even dare think about volunteering and those are the few I would get along with.  
If you don't ever enter the games, the ones who's parents could afford to send them to the academy go to work in the mountain after they graduate. The mountain was the Capitol's military base. We have housed every peace keeper. We have trained them all. If you didn't get the special training, you work in the rock house. There, you carve and dig out stone all day, every day.  
Every year at the academy, you would be put into a unit full of kids of the same gender and age. All of you would share a room for nine months. It was hard to share a shower and a toilet for that long, back when I was twelve or thirteen. Now, I know most of the boys in my ranking, and I'm at the age where a lot of kids drop out because their parents think they don't need anymore training.  
I led Maya inside and she hugged Kay and kissed Aries's cheek on her way in. She looked amazing in a gold dress that was trimmed in silver. I admired the way her blue eyes showed off along with her hair. This was the girl I loved more than anyone else I had met.


	2. Volunteer

I walked hand in hand with Maya. Her blond hair blowing in my direction made it almost impossible for me to let go. I could smell the sweet scent of flowers that followed her around. I rubbed my thumb against the side of her hand and she tightened her grip to let me know she liked it. Ever since Fade's death, Maya has been mine. Everyone knows that we will get married. Her parents and my parents were best friends. My dad and her mom actually went to the Academy together. I hear stories about them all the time. How they used to get into trouble and for a short period of time they were actually a couple.  
When we got to the district square it was packed. Our district square was about the size of one of the smaller districts. It had to be to fit all of the people in town. The town was covered in peace keepers. There was one every four feet. They were directing people on where to stand, registering in the district members, guarding the victors from previous years. They were all over the place.  
Maya and our families walked over to the registration tables where they took a needle and poked us. They took blood to identify us. Maya and I both took our places on opposite sides of the square. I allowed a peacekeeper to escort me to my age group. I squeezed in next to a friend of mine from the academy. I didn't know his first name, in the academy we are called by our last names.  
"Hey Ford." I nodded to him, just as the announcements began.  
Mayor Rydes and Mayor Foy took their places on the stage. They both cleared their voices and began to recite the story of the rebellion and the destruction of District 13. After about a fifteen minute speech, the names of previous victors were read. I was surprised at how long it was.  
Bo Walker took his place on the stage shortly afterwords. He was wearing all green, as always. His blue skin tone separated him from most of the people in the district. His accent stood out as well. He had The Capitol accent.  
"Lady's first." I watched as he walked over to the crystal ball that held about a million of names of girls between the ages of twelve and eighteen. He reached his hand down to the bottom and pulled out one. He opened it slowly, and hesitated before reading the name.  
"Ahler Dreeds" My eyes instantly looked over towards the side of the stage. My heart beat faster as I watched as the young girl walk onto the stage with her blond hair in a ponytail. She was young, I looked back at the eighteen year olds hoping one of them would get the courage to volunteer.  
The rules were that no one was allowed to volunteer until the reaped made it to the center of the stage. I looked around and saw a few of the graduates impatiently wait. The moment the Ahler made it to the center of the stage, I heard her voice echo in my ears.  
"I volunteer as tribute." My eyes instantly found her walking up towards the stage.  
I felt like screaming and running but I was frozen in place. I couldn't move or breath. I just watched as she climbed the steps and walked calmly to the center of the stage.  
"What's your name?" I just stared as she shook Bo's hand.  
"Maya Sayd" I felt my feet move without my permission and when someone tried to stop me from running up there, my hands began moving too. Before I knew it I was tackled by three peace keepers. I looked behind me and another peace keeper was helping up Mr. Struss up, while a fifth peace keeper was picking himself off the ground. Two of the ones that tackled me held my arms while the other hit me in the stomach. The pain in my stomach brought me to my knees.  
"And now for the boys." I just watched as the older looking boy who was reaped walked up the stairs, I knew what I was going to do.  
"I volunteer as tribute!" I could feel the crowd staring at my back. The punishment for attacking a peace keeper was death. The punishment for taking away Maya was me attacking you. I wasn't sure if they would let me do this.  
Bo Walker looked over his shoulder at the mayors. I felt one of the peace keepers let go of my hand. I shook myself away from the other and took a step forward as if I was daring them to tell me I couldn't.  
"Is he allowed to do that?" The mayor looked hard at me and began to laugh.  
"I'm not going to stop him, if he would rather be put through the Hunger Games then die by gun fire then let him. For all we know he might be the next victor." He nodded towards me as I looked behind me and saw the anger in a few of the graduates. I robbed them of their moment, the one thing they could do other then work in the mountain. I caught the glances of a few of the people I knew from the academy, but they just looked down as if looking at me could get them reaped or forced into the Games.  
I took a step towards the staircase and I could feel the crowd shutter. Each step turned into two more and ended with me running up the steps. I looked out into the sea of people and found Kay. He was staring at the ground, I looked for any sign that he was sad but he showed none. I looked again for Aries and Mom and they were there staring at the ground as well. I felt my anger well up inside of me. I was going to do what they couldn't and they were going to just stand there and stare at the ground? Watch them not even wave goodbye.  
"What's your name son?" I looked over at Bo and felt my anger double in size.  
"Koda Ford" He smiled and I shook his hand as hard as I could.  
"Well, you have some fight in you, District Two may have a big chance this year. Congratulations."  
I walked over and pulled Maya into a hug. I already broke tradition once, why not break it again. I felt one of her tears fall down my shoulder. I heard Bo's voice just as we were escorted by two peace keepers off the stage and into our justice building.  
"I present to you District Two's tributes for the Seventy Third Hunger Games." I threw a quick glance behind me and saw the cheering and clapping that always followed the reaping. Even the victors were cheering for us.


	3. Goodbye

They put me in a room with a long velvet couch. I looked around and I felt the panic kick in. What was I thinking? I'm not going to win, I'm going to die. They put me in here to give my families a last goodbye. What was she thinking? She barley completed eight years of the academy. Her only defense will be me. She can't even lift a sword not to mention swing one. Her aim is terrible. Her only chance is the fact she can outsmart me in any way. She has no chance, unless I defend her. I'll keep her alive, she'll come home a victor. She'll live.  
I heard the door slam. "What the hell were you thinking! You're going to die! You're only fifteen!" I stood up.  
"Nobody else would keep Maya alive!" Kay just stood there as I got to my feet and faced him.  
"You must really love her." He voice went down a few tones and I knew he was being serious. I just stared at him. My brother wasn't weak; he just got distracted. I felt the tears well up in my eyes but I choked them down. I hugged him and I felt him hesitate before hugging me back.  
"Your not going to let yourself come home are you?" I shook my head. Kay let go and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I heard an argument begin outside the door just as Mom and Aries walked in.  
I sat down on the couch. Aries sat beside me. She was tall, and beautiful. I saw the tears run down her face, as she leaned on my shoulder. My mother just sat in front of me, staring.  
"I had to do this, I had to protect Maya." Aries glanced at Mom just as her face changed.  
"I guess you and Dad made a good choice." What did they mean good choice? I looked at Aries and begged for an answer. Instantly ideas began swarming in my head and I couldn't stop them. Was I adopted and they picked a good son? What kind of choice would they have made that would end in me here.  
"What?" Mom looked at me with a concerned look, but she gave me the answer I craved.  
"You do realize that it's no accident you and Maya are so close. Look around the district do you think any of them, any of us, get to pick our future spouses. It's all set up when your younger. We picked Maya for you, just liked Maya's parents picked you for her. We've chosen Aries' husband, we've chosen Kay's wife. We're still deciding on one for Jace." I felt my heart race, I didn't get a choice, I never had a choice. Jace, even Jace the baby of the family, the only member of the family that can't even remember Fade's death, Jace doesn't get a choice.  
"What about Fade, what happened to his wife?" Mom gave me a look that made me feel stupid.  
"Fade's wife will be Kay's, just like if Maya lives she will be given to Jace. If you live you will make our family proud and you will not marry, unless of course you want to." I instantly felt my heart swell. Jace is only twelve barely even old enough to enter his name into the reaping, and he will be expected to marry the woman I love just because I was too weak to come home without her.  
When the door opened I barley hugged my mother goodbye, it was different with Aries. I hugged her tight but she still managed to hug me harder. I think I squeezed the tears out of her because she broke down and cried. I moved her half wet, red hair out of her face and she smiled before hugging me one last time.  
"You have to come home, I can't loose another brother. Especially not you, you've always been my favorite. I love you Koda." I watched her go and I felt my hand come in contact with the door. The door shook and I sat down on the couch. I waited for it to open again.  
"Is this his room?" When the door opened, I instantly embraced the two boys who walked in. Jace pushed me away while Wake just stood in shock. Wake looked just like his sister, so much like Maya. They both had the blond hair and blue eyes that shone in the sun. They both had the same abnormally pale skin.  
"Koda, you have to win. Your my favorite brother and I love you." Jace hugged my hips and Wake just watched us as we awkwardly embraced. "I don't want to be Kay's only brother. He already messes with me enough. I want you to come home." I looked at Wake.  
"I have to protect Maya, I love her." Wake joined in the hug. The two boys were crying by the time the peace keepers took them away. I looked up at one of the peacekeepers, and saw that he had a black eye.  
"Your final visitors will be in shortly." He spoke with utter hatred. He must have been the one I hit. I smiled sadistically at him and he walked back out.  
I didn't know who else to expect, all my family had already came in. I didn't have many good friends. None that were good enough to come wish me goodbye. The door opened and Maya's parents walked in.  
"Koda, thank you." I looked up into her mother's water stained eyes.  
"Thank you for setting me up with Maya. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. I promise I'll protect her." Her father sat down and put his arm around me.  
"You know we always believed in letting Maya and Wake pick who they wanted to marry, and Maya did. The first time she saw you, her eyes lit up and we knew you would make her happy." I nodded.  
"Maya picked for the both of us. I plan for her to come home and I will do anything in my power to be sure that will happen. You can count on me Mr. and Mrs. Sayd. When she gets home she will be able to choose a man to marry and she will live happily ever after."  
"I will never be able to look at any other man she chooses the way I do you, after what you have done for her. You'll always be her first choice and ours. " I looked at Maya's father, he was strong and smart. He works in the mountain and he has the burns on his finger tips to prove it. I had stopped talking and they left shortly afterwords. I would miss them, I would miss them all.  
`


	4. Mentors

Chapter 4: Mentors

A group of four or five peace keepers led me out of the room and out of the building. I looked over my shoulder to see a crowd of people cheering for me. I tried to make out some familiar faces but none stood out. They were cheering on my death..  
Only when we got to the privacy of the train, I spoke to Maya. "What were you thinking? We both know someone else would have volunteered. You didn't have to." I whispered harshly. She looked at me; she had been crying. I pulled her into my shoulder.  
"I'm not going home am I?" She whispered into my ear and I felt a single tear run down my cheek. I pushed my head down onto her shoulder and kissed it lightly.  
"You are, I promise, you will see your family again." She hugged me tighter and I didn't want to let go.  
"But, then you won't." I didn't care, I had nothing without her. I couldn't picture life without her.  
I hugged her tight. I could only get a few of these, pretty soon I would be dead and she'll be giving these out to another boy. My heart dropped as my mind played images of her with someone else. I could just picture myself watching as she kissed Saul. I felt tear follow the last. It had been awhile since I cried. He was her second choice, I knew it. He loved her before I even knew her. I remember when we were in the seventh ranking and he walked over and kissed her. Being the kid I was I was grossed out but by the tenth ranking, I envied it.  
"You two done, we have work to do." I looked over at our mentors. They sat down at the table on the other side of the room. I walked with Maya towards it and sat across from them. I stared at their faces and took in a few basic details. I knew who they were, everyone in Panem knew who they were. They were victors.  
Enobaria had razor sharp teeth. She had them professionally sharpened after she won the games. She ripped the throat of her opponent out with her teeth. I would say she was thirty at the most. She was still rather young. She had a very tan skin tone, a rather odd thing in District 2. It was pretty cold, so tan people were a rare occurrence, but the fair skin that Maya had was even more sparse. Her dark eyes shone fiercely and told me not to mess with her.  
The man who sat next to her was Jay Walls. He was average height and muscular. I remember watching him win his game. He was only twenty, and I couldn't help but notice his normally well hidden missing foot. He had a robotic replacement, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't as good as the original. He had managed to cut the last tribute's head off with a very broken blade and it made a gory mess, but only after a large rabbit tore his leg off. He had light brown hair and brown eyes.  
I watched as the two laid down folders with each of our names on them. They were both yellow and full of papers. I didn't know what they were but Maya beat me to the asking.  
"What're those?" She was staring at hers which was slightly less filled then mine.  
"It's everything the District knows about you. Your names, your families, your skills. Everyone has one, whether you know about it or not." I stared at mine, it contained everything about me. My life, my family, my preferences. There was nothing the government didn't know about me and that was scary. I couldn't have a single secret.  
I stared at the two experienced victors. If they wanted to, they could kill me before I could yell for help. I knew I would have to learn from these people; Maya's life depended on how much knowledge I gained. I knew I would have to trust them, I needed to learn so Maya would be here to take their place next year. I pictured Maya tutoring kids in how to live- she would be like a mother to them. She always wanted kids. Then, I realized how much it would break her heart to watch them die.


	5. Jay

Chapter 5: Jay

I woke to a hand suffocating me while also trying to lift me out of my bed. Having a brother like mine, I knew the best thing to do was to stay calm and remove the problem. I stood up and breathed out of my nose. I pretended to struggle until I was fully standing, then I tried hard to place my foot behind my attacker's. When I had my foot in place I quickly pulled it forward. I felt the person behind me loose balance and fall. I quickly ran to turn on the light. The moment I saw him on the floor I began yelling.

"What the hell are you trying to do? Kill me before I even make it to training?" Jay just stared, opened mouth as I stood over him half asleep.

"You should have heard me come in. If we were in the arena you would be dead. Now that your up we can look through your file." His husky voice made mine sound like I was a child. I guess you could say I still am but thinking that way, he is one as well. He set my file on the bed. He sat down on it with me and began flipping through the contents.

"It says here you have three brothers and a sister." I looked up at him.

"Two, I have two brothers and a sister. My brother Fade is dead." He looked at me hard. A hint of recognition glinted in his eyes at the sound of my brother's name.

"Fade Ford, he was the one who died from infection right?" I nodded slightly. So that's how everyone remembers him. He continued to flip through my file until he pulled out a piece of paper I was way too familiar with. It was my offense record. Anything I'd done that ended in a punishment from anyone but my mother and father was recorded there. Jay flipped the paper over and hit it, and then he shook it in my face.

"You see this, this will all be erased when you win. The time you lost a fight against your instructor, the time you threw a knife at a classmate, that'll all go away, nobody will remember it. The only thing they'll probably still remember is your reaping."

"That's where you're wrong!" I saw anger flash in his eyes and I took a quick look at his hand told me it was in a fist. I don't know why I lashed out the way I did but it was to late to fix it.

"What do you mean? Have you met me, I'm never wrong, even in my game I won because I went the right way. The rest of my allies died because they didn't trust my judgement. Are you sure I'm the one who is wrong?"

I looked hard at Jay, he was only a few years older then me, I could take him if it wasn't for his training. I felt my anger rise in my chest and my fist ball up.

"I'm not going to win. I'm going to keep Maya alive and she will win." My voiced wavered slightly. Jay looked at me hard, then continued to flip through the pages of my file.

"It says here you have 50/50 aim with a knife and your swordplay skills are beyond questioning. Do you agree?" I looked hard at him. I remember taking the test for my weaponry skills, but I must have forgotten my scores. It had been almost a year.

Give me a selection of weapons and I'll pick up anything with a blade. My archery sucks, probably because I don't care to much about that subject. I couldn't use a spear if I tried and anything heavier then a sword is off limits.

"I like blades; they're easier to use." He looked at me and nodded as if checking every little word I say for some form of hidden meaning.

"I saw you when May's name was called. You're strong and you don't give up." I felt my anger rise again.

"Maya!" He stared hard at me.

"What?" He spoke with resentment and narrowed his eyes.

"Her name is Maya, say it right or don't say it at all." I narrowed mine back.

"It won't matter once she's dead, she won't last a day. She's pathetic, weak, young."

"She's the same age as me!" I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on, which happened to be a cup that was on my bedside table. I squeezed it. silently hoping it would break to show my strength.

"Why the hell did you volunteer then? Plenty of graduates would have happily volunteered in that kid's place." I remembered the looks that the eighteen year olds gave me. I couldn't help but snicker at the fact that I took away their moment.

"Would those graduates protect Maya? No, they would let her die. They would laugh about it." He looked away as if he agreed.

"Stand up!" I quickly did as he said but I didn't take my eyes off of him as he circled me. "How much can you lift?" If he were to make me mad enough I could throw him across the train.

"I don't know try me." Jay stared at me and then looked back down at my file.

"I knew your brother, he was arrogant just like you, but in the end he died because he depended to much on his allies. The other tributes will want you as their ally, the only problem is most of them will stab you in the back if they have the chance."

I thought hard about the tapes I watched earlier. I had gotten the chance to watch a replay of the reapings. I remembered how tough the boy from One looked, the girl from Four definitely showed to be a threat as well. Those two would probably be the last alive, those would have to be the ones I would have to kill. Maya wouldn't stand a chance against them. I also remembered how the boy from Twelve looked so young. He wouldn't last a day.

I also noticed how desperate I sounded when I shouted out my volunteer. The camera's zoomed in on me as I took the hits in the stomach from the peacekeepers and I saw my body flinch at the impact. I grabbed my stomach in memory.


	6. Night with Maya

Jay left me to sleep but I couldn't. I paced around the room and even took a shower before I laid in bed. I just stayed there, unmoving for an hour until I heard my door open slightly. I stayed still, thinking about a way to trip up Jay if he decided to attack again. I felt a hand on my back and I jumped up only to find Maya standing back, looking fairly scared.

"I can't sleep, I'm worrying about you." I stood up and walked slowly over to her a pushed her shoulders into the wall. I slowly leaned forward to kiss her but just as she leaned forward to kiss me I leaned back. I did it over and over again, teasing her until I couldn't take it anymore and I kissed her. It was sweet and innocent just like the others but for some reason this one lingered on.

Her blue eyes sparkled with delight. I took a step back, I couldn't hold my breath anymore. I pulled her down onto the bed next to me. I laid down next to her and we just stayed like that until she broke the silence.

"Koda, I'm cold." I moved closer to her and pulled the blanket over just her. She laid her head on my chest and I could hear her heart beat. I ran my fingers through her hair as she breathed in and out, adjusting the way she was laying every once in a while, but being sure to never take her head off my chest.

Her breathing slowed and I just watched her sleep. She was so beautiful, her golden hair was askew on the blanket, her perfect face was smiling in sleep. I loved her, I hope she knew it. I let my eyes close and I gave into my exhaustion again.

I woke up for the third time that night with Maya screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Shhh it's ok, I'm here. Stop screaming." She wrapped her arms tighter around me and began crying into my shoulder. "It's ok, nothing can hurt you. I'll protect you." She looked up at me, tears were streaming down her face. Her eyes were watering and I felt my instincts kick in. I wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled her closer to me.

"Was it a nightmare?" I felt her shake her head.

"It was perfect. I was with you, I had you forever. We lived in the District, you worked in the mountain. We had a daughter, and grandchildren, you had a grey beard." She felt my face as she said that. I began thinking about what would happen if neither of us were reaped, if neither of us were stuck going into the arena. "Koda, it was perfect. I can't live without you, I-I can't picture growing old with anybody else." I felt tears run down my face, I had to protect her if she were to win. Without her I would die. I would kill off everyone but us and maybe one person, someone who was an easy kill. She would go home, not me.

I kissed her forehead. "One of us won't get out of this, and I want you, I want your kiss, I want your love, I want to be your dreams, and I want to be a part of your future, but I want you to go home more then any of that." I stood up and kissed her before laying back down in bed and cuddling up with her to sleep.

"Koda?" I nuzzled my head on her neck.

"Yes?" She turned around to look at me.

"If we weren't off to our death, what do you think would happen to us?" Her question caught me off guard even though I had been thinking the same a few minutes ago.

"I would have married you. We would grow old together in that big house that you always wanted. We would have enough kids to fill the house. We would have sent them off to the Academy, and spent a lot of that time together. I would have gone out to work in the Mountain and you would have stayed home with the kids. I'd try as hard as possible to keep the kids out of the reaping. I would never, ever let you get hurt. I still won't. I promise you'll stay safe as long as you're with me." She hugged me and I really didn't want her to let go. I slowly wrapped my arms around her and laid my head on her shoulder. We didn't let each other go until she pulled back and looked me in the eyes.

"Koda, if we weren't reaped would you ever ask me to marry you?" I couldn't speak I just watched her as she laid back down and used my chest as a pillow. I never knew she was expecting it. We had been together a few years, but I never thought she has been waiting for me to marry her. We wouldn't be of age until next year, but in Two wedding celebrations took almost a year to plan.

The ceremonies were so rare that most of them lasted three days or more. Most people never get married, they just have kids and live together. I wouldn't mind marrying her, but I was never planning on asking her. My parents weren't married until my mother was pregnant with me. Maya's parents, as far as I know, were never married.

I smiled and held Maya in my arms. I could tell she was asleep by the way she was breathing and I took it upon myself to whisper lightly in her ear.

"Yes"


End file.
